The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

handicapped

Audrey’s mentally disabled uncle was snookered by a mall skin care kiosk worker into buying $300 worth of product he doesn’t need. When his niece found out, the kiosk refused to do a refund saying it was “against policy.” Now her special needs uncle has only $40 left to live on for the week and the kiosk manager is ducking her calls. [More]

According to Richard, Greyhound has some real work to do when it comes to making people in wheelchairs not feel like second-class citizens. Even in snowy weather and with delays, you don’t really want a driver telling a passenger that he should have brought an attendant if he wanted to get on the bus. [More]

Ned wears a neck brace when he flies, not because he’s injured or disabled, but because he prefers it to one of those floofy neck pillows. This didn’t sit well with a Delta flight attendant who was intent on keeping disabled-looking folks out of the emergency exit aisle. The attendant wouldn’t leave Ned alone, even after Ned demonstrated his range of mobility and explained that the brace was from a minor car accident thirty-three years ago. Ned managed to hold onto his seat after a chat with the senior flight attendant, but the original flight attendant later came back, “got in [Ned’s] face ñ literally, just inches away” and complained that Ned had “bucked his authority.”

Natalie is pretty angry. Lately whenever her mother, who is blind, has to travel, she seems to run into trouble. As Natalie puts it, as far as airline regulations go a guide dog is equivalent to a wheelchair, and the appropriate accommodations should be made without hassle. It’s too bad on her last flight, Natalie’s mother had to sit in the bulkhead next to a Delta employee with a fear of dogs.

Jeff and his wife bought a couch, chair, and armoire from Basset Furniture in Rockville, Maryland this weekend, and while the actual experience was rather pleasant, they might not be going back. It wasn’t because their salesperson was rude, but rather because another employee they’d never dealt with pulled them aside at the last minute to warn them that there was “something wrong” with the woman who’d been helping them. What? What the hell does that mean? Did she sell them haunted furniture? Was she really a robber who was pretending to sell furniture to get the customers out of the store so she could finish her robbery? Was she a replicant?

On July 20th, Julianna’s (delayed) Delta flight landed in Atlanta at 7:30pm, with a connecting flight scheduled for 8:05pm. Julianna, who has muscular dystrophy, missed the connecting flight because nobody came with a wheelchair until 8:05—the same time the connecting flight took off. To make matters worse, the plane crew told Julianna she might make the flight anyway if she stopped waiting for help and got off the plane right now, so she crawled down the stairs on her own. When the wheelchair came she was “wheeled into a back room and advised” that her plane had taken off. But that was just the first half of her ordeal, and the next eight hours only got worse.

My name is Pat. I recently needed some plumbing done on my toilet. It was clogged, and we couldn’t get anything to work for us to get it unclogged. I looked through the online websites in the area of plumbers. Holy crap, here is Pat’s Plumbing.

A 14-year-old tipster caught this Verizon van parked next to the handicapped only sign outside his grandmother’s house. The Verizon tech spent 20 minutes visiting a neighbor, and when asked to move, “was very arrogant and drove off.” More pictures, after the jump.

Having a handicapped child changes life completely. Simple tasks such as grocery shopping have become a major ordeal for me. I rarely go to stores alone due to the difficulties pushing a wheelchair and buggy simultaneously and family members work schedules leave little time to assist me with shopping. My three year old daughter is unable to sit independently, walk, or talk. To navigate stores I find it easier to use her lightweight stroller rather than her bulky and heavy wheelchair…

Every day, I receive emails informing me that I can make up to a $1,000 a day, working from home. I smirk knowingly and click Thunderbird’s ‘Spam’ button. No duh, I can. I’m a professional blogger. We’re millionaires, largely paid to sit in our kitchen table in our underpants all day, drinking beer and evacuating our flatulent thoughts upon the world at large.

Last Monday, lovely reader Lexi wrote us about Fran, the Target store manager who publicly harangued her sweet, handicapped mother. We called Fran a cunt. We asked people to call and complain. It’s a testament to how much goodwill Target has that many of you played devil’s advocate for Fran.

By popular demand, we tried to followup on the reader complaint about her disabled mother getting treated poorly at at Target. We made some calls and learned what happens when you try to go in the front door. It gets slammed in your face.